Promesas, Decepciones
by public static void
Summary: When his letter didn't arrive, Dorea promised his brother he would get to live through her.


**For the Ultimate Battle! Competition** \- write 1500 words of Black Family.

* * *

The moonbeams filtered through the sheer curtains of black lace, half litting the room. A single person stood there, completely still and silent. Dorea had a question in her mind, a question that had been eating her since the moment the clock marked the change from a somber evening to a deep and dark night. She could not sleep, and would not even try to, until her doubts were dispersed and the truth came out, even if the reality of the situation was not the ideal.

She grabbed her wand and lit the tip with a nonverbal charm that had been mastered otu of need in spite of her ten years old.

The stone stairs were cold to her delicate feet, but the cold served to calm her down and let her think. Could it possibly be a simple missunderstanding waiting to be amended? With all her heart, she hoped so. For the well being of her favorite brother and the remaining sanity of her older sister. Pollux's feelings were not in the mix, for her eldest brother held no amount of love for his siblings, and so it would be the same to him.

But not to Cassie, who already seemed half mad with shame and half with the need to be able to do something, anything. And still she was not the victim here. Actually, Dorea doubted there were any victims at all when it came to these subjects.

Dorea reached the bedroom of her brother and knocked on the door, waiting for him to let her in so they could talk. Words were needed, even if Father and Mother would like to pretend they weren't.

"Marius," she said loud enough to be heard by her brother, and quiet enough to not to be sent to bed by a nanny elf. "I know you're awake."

"Of course I'm awake!" a cry came from within the room. "Would you be able to sleep if you were me?"

Dorea considered her words and chose an answer that would not send her brother deeper into this newfound madness. "I would sleep until I could no longer know the difference between day and dream. I would let myself become one with the chaos and rule the Universe from my own mind. And yet I would listen to my wise sister before all of that."

No sound was heard for a moment until the lock gave a click and the door opened in front of her. Without a word, Dorea went in and closed it again, marvelling at the glass ceilings of her brother's room. He had always been an Astronomy fan.

"Cassie was already here," Marius told her with clear traces of tears on his cheeks. "She told me the things as they stand and asked me to quietly leave the family to avoid embarrassing them any further."

For a brief instant, Dorea considered embracing her brother, older by a year and so young at the same time. Situations like the one they were on (because she refused to leave him on his own!) managed to bring the best out of people. Or to break them, and Marius already seemed broken and beyond any fixture.

"Whatever she told you, forget it, Marius," she said calmly, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "You know what Uncle Sirius says. Blood matters, and not only for the magic in it."

"Or the lack of it, in my case."

Dorea stared at him with sadness. She was trying to be optimist, but it would not do. Marius was too far gone with their sister's venomous words consuming whatever common sense was left to him. It was not his fault to be born without the blessing of magic, but it was his duty to live in spite of that. He owed it to himself, and to the countless Blacks who came before them.

She pulled him over to the bed and they climbed on it together, as they usually did when one was upset. Cassie sometimes joined them before being considered too grown up.

"I don't want to cry," he muttered against her shoulder, distressed and starting to show it. "Mother doesn't look at me, and Father only spoke to me to make sure I told nobody of _this_."

It was times like those that made Dorea wish they had been born in a family other than theirs. The Black blood was pure and ancient, but it was also cursed with madness and loveless families where only the might mattered, and never the souls of the involved. A hard truth they had to learn too young to be good for them, and she was sure in any other family they shouldn't have had to.

In that moment, holding her brother close to her, Dorea vowed that any future child of her would be loved and cared for no matter what.

"I don't know what I will do, Dorea," Marius confessed with trepidation. "But I know I can't stay and watch as Father and Mother ignore me and try to hide me from the rest of the world. I can't see Cassie mad at me because of what I am..."

"Cassie is already mad, Marius," Dorea told him, trying to let him know it was not his fault. "She was born with a demon's mind."

"Just as I was born with no magic."

Silence fell over them and neither wanted to lift it. It lingered like a curse full with broken dreams and dark thoughts of a shattered fate.

"I had wanted to be a Slytherin," Marius said, never looking her in the eye. "To be as well-liked as Pollux, but less of an ass."

Dorea couldn't supress her giggles. Pollux _was_ an ass, even if he had been Head Boy and many teachers' favorite student.

"I want to be a Ravenclaw," confessed Dorea, feeling guilty now that her brother was refused of the greatest opportunity in life. "A book-worm, as Cassie says. But I'll become a Slytherin for you. I will even try out for the Quidditch Team if you would like to be on it. I would do anything for you, Marius. It feels as if you are my only sibling and I love you more for that."

Marius hugged his little sister and kissed the top of her head. "And I love you, Dorea."

They shared a smile before falling into silence again, their hands linked and their dreams taking separate paths.

 **-.-**

Hogwarts became her home at first sight. The lights of the Castle lit the way for the small first years who felt excitement stained with early homesickness. Everyone but Dorea.

The stones of the Castle already felt more magical than any other place she had ever known, and her curious mind ached to discover every secret of her new home, from the Ravenclaw Tower she had given up willingly, to the damp dungeons that soon became her favorite place in the world.

 _All I need is you waiting for me at the end of the day, Marius. Smiling and always happy._

She wrote him letters every week, and with each of them she sent him a new bit of crucial information of the Castle, and a tiny piece of her soul.

 _Slytherin would be way more fun with you here, brother. Magic was cruel, but always remember you can be a Slytherin at any place, even a muggle one._

Marius wrote to her about his new school, the most prestigious for young boys who were high enough in the important social circles to get an invitation.

 _Ambition, Marius, is the clue to find happiness. You need to focus on what you want of life and grab it with both hands only to never let go._

He wrote about the girl he met during a field trip, of how her eyes seemed to glow with a joy for everything he said to her, of how her hair was as red as the sunset sun and so soft to the touch.

 _And happiness will be there to celebrate those moments when you finally feel like yourself, even if the rest of the world wants to charge you double for the bliss you feel. I met someone, too, Marius. A Gryffindor boy who is as handsome as he is intelligent. I would love to have you meet him._

It's only then that he writes of going away. Taking a plane to another place, far from her and away from the life he cannot have.

 _I understad you need to live, Marius. I only ask that you think of me._

 **-.-**

Dorea never received another letter. Not when she graduated, or when she got married. Marius just stopped writing altogether and not even a postcard reached her.

When with her family, she would pretend he never existed, hurting still from his lack of magic, from his lack of understanding towards the sister who only wanted him to experience what he couldn't through her.

But it was never easy for him, she would think to herself before drowning in tomes and pages and the ink of her books, only to be saved by the wizard who gave her a reason to move on. To start living for herself instead of honoring a promise made when she was ten.

Dorea tried hard at first and thought many times she would never be truly happy, but she succeeded.

A lover for a husband, a son with eyes of gold, and a terrestrial name which is not cursed.

And Marius? Not even magic knows what happened to him.


End file.
